Fuel loading completed at Novovoronezh II-2

25 February 2019

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Rosenergoatom, the operator subsidiary of Russian state nuclear corporation Rosatom, has announced the completion of fuel loading at unit 2 of the Novovoronezh II nuclear power plant in southwest Russia. The procedure was completed yesterday at 1:18pm in accordance with the licence issued by regulator Rostechnadzor to operate the nuclear installation.

Workers at Novovoronezh II-2 (Image: Rosatom)

"We were confident about the successful completion of the loading of nuclear fuel into the reactor core because we already had experience in conducting this procedure at the first VVER-1200 power unit. Previously, we had worked on loading operations using fuel assembly simulators," Vladimir Povarov, director of the Novovoronezh nuclear power plant, said in the statement.

All future work at the unit will be related, the company said, to obtaining Rostechnadzor's approval for the subsequent stages of physical start-up: reactor assembly; switching on the main circulation pumps for transferring the reactor to a hot state; and performing a set of tests at the minimal controlled power level.

Also known as Novovoronezh 7, the unit is a VVER 1200/392M pressurised water reactor (PWR) unit with a design net capacity of 1114 MWe. It is the second of two such units at Novovoronezh II - the lead project for the deployment of the AES-2006 design incorporating a Gidropress-designed PWR, an evolutionary development from the VVER-1000. Unit 1 of the Novovoronezh II plant, Russia's first VVER-1200 reactor, was connected to the grid in August 2016.